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Direct email marketing can be wonderfully effective. However, anyone who has tried to send a message to a mailing list soon realises there are many problems such as ensuring reliable delivery, readability across email platforms and measuring the campaign's effectiveness. We have tried many types of service and software and in our opinion, Vertical Response is one of the best.
The reasons are simple.It's affordable with pay as you go pricing (ideal for the small business) or monthly rates (for the big boys.) Prices start at $15 for 1000 emails, and get cheaper for great volumes. If you consider that a well crafted message should have a conversion rate of at least 1%, then your 10 sales from 1000 emails cover costs nicely. Brilliant design tools. Whether you are a web newbie or a HTML wunderkind, you'll find a design option to suit you. Better still, the tools ensure that you create messages that will display well on the widest range of email clients from Outlook to Hotmail, removing one of the biggest headaches of direct email. A text only version can be created with one click. Robust delivery. Sending bulk email is fraught with problems, as there are so many ways that a message can be construed as spam, and therefore blocked. Vertical Response's systems will help you ensure your message does not look like spam. Their mail servers are configured in such a way as to be "trusted" and your message is much more likely to get through. In addition, they have strict anti-spam policies in place to prevent their service being used by spammers. Only white hats need apply! Remarkable reports. Find out who's email addresses bounce (are not valid,) who read your message, and who clicks which links in your message. Links in your email can also be modified so in Google Analytics you can track WHO clicked which page in your web site, allowing you to do some follow up with interested parties. Below is an example report for a campaign we ran for a client, that led to over 5 sales from just 227 emails. The success of the campaign was due to the list being composed of "warm" customers, the right product presented at the right time, and clear, persuasive messages in the email text. You can try Vertical Response now with their FREE trial. Give me a shout if you need any help setting up your first campaign. Send 100 FREE email newsletters with your VerticalResponse trial! 
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